The present invention relates to agricultural windrowers using merger apparatus for directing crop material and, more particularly, to a lift assist bar for stabilizing a movable merger apparatus when in a raised, non-working position.
A windrower typically consists of a self-propelled tractor or similar vehicle, and a cutting mechanism which is either towed by the tractor or carried thereby. The cutting mechanism carried by a windrower is typically referred to as a header, and is supported on the windrower by forwardly projecting arms. Current practice in agriculture is to cut a relatively wide swath of the crop within a range of anywhere between 10 and 16 or more feet in width, and then consolidate the crop into a narrower, substantially continuous windrow, in which form the crop is left to dry in the field until the moisture content has been reduced to a value suitable for subsequent harvesting operations, such as baling.
More current practice is to combine multiple windrows together as they are being mowed. This practice eliminates a raking operation and also reduces the number of passes of subsequent harvesting operations (e.g., chopping and baling). With the advent of higher capacity forage harvesters and balers, merging windrows is becoming a more desirable practice. Windrow merging attachments are thus more prevalent on harvesting machines. Additional flexibility in harvesting operations is provided by lift mechanisms which enable the merger apparatus to be selectively positioned for merging or non-merging operation thus eliminating machine down-time required to install/remove a fixed-position merger apparatus to switch between windrowing operational modes.
Merger lift mechanisms are required to provide unique movement of the merger apparatus, combining vertical translation as well as simultaneous rotation about two or more axes. Complicated merger lift mechanisms are often required to provide such movement. Experience has shown that these mechanisms may have trouble withstanding high vertical accelerations experienced by a self-propelled windrower under typical operation over uneven terrain when the merger is in the fully-raised position. A conventional approach of increasing the strength of individual members of the linkage mechanism to withstand the applied stresses has proven to be not overly cost-effective.
It would be a great advantage to provide a cost-effective means of stabilizing a selectively positionable windrow merger apparatus that enables a merger lift mechanism to withstand operating stresses to which it is subjected during typical windrower operation that overcomes the above problems and disadvantages.